Thunderbirds: Kalispell makes bid for air show
The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce hopes to bring the U.S. Air Force’s elite Thunderbirds to the Flathead Valley next summer for an air show.
This year’s scheduled air show was canceled amid federal budget cuts that grounded both the Thunderbirds and the Navy Blue Angels air demonstration teams. In late October, U.S. Defense Sec. Chuck Hagel announced that air shows are resuming along with military band concerts, ceremonial unit appearances and other outreach events.
The Kalispell Chamber, in cooperation with Glacier Park International Airport and the Federal Aviation Administration, applied in August for one of the 2014 air-show slots.
“We hope to be selected for next summer, with the same schedule for the end of July,” Chamber President Joe Unterreiner said. “We think our chances are pretty good.”
This year’s canceled show dates were July 20 and 21, and Capt. Jason Curtis, a Flathead High School graduate and member of the Thunderbirds, was to be among the featured pilots. Curtis is the Number 6 pilot, called the Opposing Solo.
Curtis posted a message on the Daily Inter Lake’s Facebook page earlier this week, saying he hopes the Thunderbirds will be able to come to Kalispell.
“We would love nothing more than to come up to the Valley and make a little (or a lot of) thunder for all of you,” he posted. “Like the ‘fire phoenix’ that will rise from the ashes of 2013, we will spread our wings and light the skies on fire again … this time stronger and with a deeper sense of purpose.”
It’s been eight years since Kalispell has hosted an air show. The Kalispell Chamber gave up its air-show slot three years ago because of the struggling local economy and allowed the Blue Angels to go to Great Falls instead.
The Thunderbirds and Blue Angels schedules typically are announced at the International Council of Air Shows in Las Vegas in early December. But air-show officials are scrambling this time around, Unterreiner said, because the decision to resume the shows came so late.
Air shows are a big economic boost to the Flathead, Unterreiner said. The Chamber had anticipated this year’s show would have brought in roughly 40,000 spectators over two days.
According to ABC News, the resumption of the air shows is possible because of a 45 percent reduction in the number of military outreach events from last year, which will save $104 million in this fiscal year and $1 billion over the next 10 years.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.